Situation

Utilities have special characteristics that pose unique security challenges. Empowered to treat, store and distribute potable water, utility sites vary depending on a city's distinct circumstances. Some water storage facilities contain water in underground reservoirs, while others are stored in aboveground tanks. Many sites are located in remote areas; others are encroached by housing and other urban developments. At most sites, a fence is the only existing security measure.

Concerns over keeping our nation's utilities protected from terrorist contamination and/or destruction have heightened in our post-9/11 world. Given that most facilities are not monitored by advanced security systems, officials fear it would be easy for a terrorist to damage, destroy or contaminate a city's main water supply, causing widespread illness, disruption, and even death.

Challenge

Given the vulnerability of our nation's water treatment, and storage distribution facilities, utilities must rise to the challenge of protecting our potable water resources from terrorist infiltration and contamination. One of the most effective ways to safeguard these facilities is with sensor-enabled fences and pole- or building-mounted cameras—security measures designed to protect a facility's perimeter as well as identify and assess invasive incidents when they occur.

Solution

When integrated with exterior cameras, PureActiv's wide-area surveillance and perimeter protection solution equips water utilities with an intelligent ‘command and control' system, enabling an operator to monitor all of the utility's water storage and treatment facilities from one centralized location. PureActiv's intelligent object detection and tracking and satellite imagery-based command and control system is able to recognize perimeter intrusions, alert security operators and track the suspect, giving authorities the information they need to ensure an accurate and effective emergency response.

Consider these scenarios:

Scenario

PureActiv’s Capability

A terrorist infiltrates a water storage facility's perimeter fence and infects the water with bacteria that leads to botulism (a severe, sometimes fatal pathogen).

In addition to detecting, tracking and notifying the facility's security operator of the perimeter intrusion, PureActiv will record and track the situation—evidence designed to assist authorities with identifying the suspect and assessing the threat level. This technology also helps officials take appropriate action, which in this case, would likely require isolating the contaminated water supply.

A terrorist steals a water storage facility worker's site access card, intending to gain unauthorized access to the facility.

PureActiv and its advanced camera system can be integrated with a utility facility's card access system, which checks the live image of a cardholder against an archived still image. This capability prevents the terrorist from gaining entrance to the facility using the worker's stolen card.

A group of teenagers breaks into a water storage area, planning to vandalize the equipment and facility.

Integrated with cameras and/or fence detection sensors, PureActiv is designed to detect this intrusion and alert security personnel, giving authorities time to prevent the break-in and/or stop the vandalism while in progress.